On December 19, Olga Skorobogatova, the first deputy chairman of the monetary authority, announced that the Central Bank of the Russian Federation (CBR) intended to test using cryptocurrency to settle foreign trade.

“We are now planning, within the framework of the experimental legal regime that we are preparing, to try the use of cryptocurrency for international settlements, that is, for foreign economic activity,” she said, quoted by the Tass news agency.

In a speech to the State Duma, the lower chamber of the Russian parliament, Skorobogatova described the specifics of the pilot project. However, she made no specific reference of the participants in the market.

Moscow's government organisations have been working to include decentralised cryptocurrencies into the rules governing virtual currency. Despite the fact that the central bank had previously vehemently opposed their legalisation in Russia, it has since modified its position in light of Western sanctions relating to the invasion of Ukraine that have limited the nation's access to foreign markets and finances.

According to Alexey Moiseev, deputy minister of finance, and the monetary policy regulator, cross-border cryptocurrency settlements are necessary for Russia to operate in the current environment. This finding was made public in September.

The CBR, however, is still opposed to allowing domestic cryptocurrency payments as well as the unrestricted use of virtual currencies like bitcoin in Russian law. As long as the produced cryptocurrency is only traded outside of Russia or within particular legal frameworks, it recently endorsed laws aimed at controlling mining.